Illegitimacy is the status that was once commonly ascribed to individuals born to parents who were not married. A corresponding legal term was bastardy. The child's status could be changed in either direction by civil (as in the case of the Princes in the Tower) or canon law. In some jurisdictions, marriage of an illegitimate child's parents after its birth resulted in the child's legitimation, the child's legal status then changing to "special bastardy."